Mobro barge incident
The Mobro barge incident occurred between March and September 1987, when the barge Mobro embarked on a lengthy journey to find a port for unloading a cargo of 3,186 tons of garbage from Long Island and New York City. Initially bound for Morehead City, North Carolina, the barge faced refusal from local officials due to concerns over potential hazardous waste, prompting it to seek alternative ports across the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as well as in the Caribbean. Despite traveling approximately 9,600 kilometers and being turned away at multiple locations, the incident garnered significant media attention, highlighting the broader issues of waste management and disposal in the United States.
The Mobro incident sparked public awareness of the challenges associated with landfill space and contributed to the rise of the "not in my backyard" (NIMBY) mentality among communities reluctant to accept waste. It also pushed environmental discussions into the spotlight, leading to initiatives aimed at improving recycling practices nationwide. By the early 2020s, recycling programs had expanded significantly, with about 32 percent of U.S. communities implementing some form of recycling. Ultimately, the crisis concluded with the Mobro returning to New York, where the garbage was incinerated and buried, emphasizing the ongoing debate around waste disposal solutions.
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Mobro barge incident
THE EVENT: Months-long journey by the barge Mobro along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts in search of a place to unload a cargo of garbage
DATES: March-September, 1987
The Mobro incident raised Americans’ awareness of the serious problem of waste management and helped spark national interest in recycling as a solution to the increasing problem of lack of landfill space.
On March 22, 1987, the Mobro left New York loaded with 3,186 tons of from the Long Island town of Islip and New York City. The garbage was to be unloaded in the rural Jones County, North Carolina, town of Morehead City, where it would be converted to methane gas. The project was the brainchild of Lowell Harrelson, an Alabama entrepreneur who envisioned shipping garbage from northern states where landfill space was becoming scarcer to cheaper southern landfills that had adequate space. Jones County manager Larry Meadows saw the plan to accept out-of-state garbage as a way to boost the county’s tax base.
When the Mobro arrived in Morehead City sooner than expected, North Carolina officials questioned whether the barge’s hasty arrival meant that its cargo might contain hazardous waste. North Carolina officials denied the Mobro permission to dock, and the barge set forth in search of another port. The news media learned of the Mobro and began to report on its journey. Before it finally ended up back where it began in New York, the Mobro traveled to Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, New Jersey, the Bahamas, Mexico, and Belize (a distance of some 9,600 kilometers, or 6,000 miles), only to be turned away at every port. Amid intense publicity, the “not in my backyard” syndrome, or NIMBYism, quickly took hold. Mexico tracked the Mobro with gunboats, and Belize threatened to dispatch its air force to prevent the barge from approaching its waters.
As a result of media coverage, the barge became a symbol of U.S. disposal problems. New York environmentalist Walter Hang spoke of a garbage crisis on television. Other environmentalists referred to a nation buried in trash. Some Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials took note of the Mobro incident and publicly acknowledged a national garbage crisis. By September, 1988, EPA administrator J. Winston Porter asked each state and municipality to formulate a plan that would reduce disposal needs by 25 percent. In an EPA report titled “Solid Waste Dilemma,” Porter implied that the country was running out of space to bury garbage. Others in the EPA disputed Porter’s claim and maintained that the United States had an average of twenty-one years of remaining landfill capacity. The Mobro incident did raise awareness of the need for recycling in the United States and prompted numerous legislation to implement recycling programs. According to the USA Environmental Protection Agency, about 32 percent of US communities had some sort of recycling program in the early 2020s, up from less than 7 percent in 1960.
The crisis ended after the Mobro returned to New York. Lawsuits filed in New York State Supreme Court by the borough of Queens and the New York Public Interest Group (NYPIRG) failed to prevent incineration and burial of the garbage. Queens officials feared a health hazard, while NYPIRG contended that the garbage contained high levels of cadmium and lead. All three thousand bales of were finally burned in September, 1987, at Brooklyn’s Southwest Incinerator, and the resulting 500 tons of were buried at Islip’s Blydenburgh landfill.
Bibliography
"America Recycles Day." Environmental Protection Agency, 15 Nov. 2023, www.epa.gov/circulareconomy/america-recycles-day. Accessed 19 July 2024.
Lamar, Jacob V., Jr. “Don’t Be a Litterbarge: No One Wants the Wretched Refuse of New York’s Teeming Shore.” Time, May 4, 1987, 26.
Melosi, Martin V. Garbage in the Cities: Refuse, Reform, and the Environment. Rev. ed. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005.
Miller, Benjamin. Fat of the Land: The Garbage of New York—The Last Two Hundred Years. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2000.
Patowary, Kaushik. "Mobro 4000: The Infamous Garbage Barge." Amusing Planet, 22 Dec. 2023, www.amusingplanet.com/2023/12/mobro-4000-infamous-garbage-barge.html. Accessed 19 July 2024.